Welding Strength

[renewablejohn]

Is welding strength increasing or decreasing. Only ask as my MB Trac was "professionally" converted by a well known Unimog engineering company and the welding standard seems atrocious. To date the rear light frame and steps have fallen off and the PTO stub shaft is bent at 45 degrees. Final straw is the drawbar hitch which seems to be a bodge of a rockingham hitch which would be fine for a drawbar trailer but appears to be inadequate for a forwarding trailer as the lower jaw has broken off at the weld.

 

Any suggestion for a stronger drawbar its only pulling a 9t Kesla forwarder with probably 12t max.

[IVECOKID]

Probably a combination of a few things like inexperienced welders ,cheap rods/wire ,crap metal and job not prepared properly.

 

Ste

[Mull]

I'd imagine welding strength is as good as the one doing the welding.

[Agi-Smash]

Fit lots of v.orlandi hitches and used to use jbg's but wouldnt recomend jbg for anything other than smooth road use.

Welds are getting worse, if drawing says 6mm throat depth and the throat of the weld is 6mm it passes. The fact that it was put in by a moron with a gasless hobby mig is irrelevant. A lot of commercial stuff is welded to a set time and price, not a quality.

[IVECOKID]

I still swear by the old Arc Welder,don't trust migs at all with anything above a been Can material.

 

Ste

[Agi-Smash]

Cant beat a stick welder with a properly prepped joint. I like to use high dep rods as you can get it in there hotter and faster.

[woody paul]

Welds are as any as good as the person doing it. Remember taking a project I had to a engineering company to weld up standard steel with two lugs for a post hole borer which where mixed steels, had to wait till the only broke they had that could weld mixed and weld with a stick.

[WeFixIt]

Welding is a simple word but a far more complex task!

 

There are different welding methods for different jobs

 

A good welder should know the which and how and therefore produce a good strong result!

 

There are methods to help prevent fatigue and fracture cracking which maybe why parts have started dropping off or it could be just down to inexperienced welder

 

Or possibly the designer if something has been fabricated to plans !!

[Treewolf]

I think that part of the problem (as with so many other things) is that the increased availability of inexpensive equipment means that there are now many people who think they can weld but who are really so gripless that they shouldn't be allowed to use tools of any kind.

 

I had some extensive repairs carried out on a steam boiler not long ago, and since it is a pressure vessel the welding had to be undertaken by a coded welder to an scheme of work approved by the boiler inspector beforehand. This included prescribing the prep work, the style of the weld, and the procedures for inspection and NDT of the weld afterwards (which included crack detection and ultrasonic testing). The result is staggering good. The restrictions are (thankfully) legal requirements due to the pressure vessel regulations.

 

How is it therefore than any fool with a cheap DIY MIG welder can start welding safety-critical components of road vehicle?

 

If I ran a business which included welding customers' vehicles then nowadays I would make damn sure that I had ample evidence of comptence for all my welders, and a documented test regime. I dread to think of the law suit if the failuure of my welder's welding caused a trailer to run through a bus stop queue of school kids.

[WeFixIt]

Interesting point !

 

But it is a rear thing for something to break instantly and more commonly its a case of fractured cracks first followed by complete failure ! So as every driver is responsible for checking there vehicle and trailer before starting there journey and they have a unchecked crack, loose something or a failing weld then they went on to drive on the highway who's responsible then?? (Proving they did it didnt check it maybe a little bit hard!)

 

But it is worrying when your watching that car home made trailer or tractor and home made trailer coming towards you on the other side the road!!!